Veera Narayana Temple, Belavadi (Chikkamagalur), Karnataka.

[Guest guest]

Dear Sri Sampathkumar,

 

Many thanks for circulating the excellent photos of the Veera Narayana shrine of Belavadi, Chikkamagalur district, Karnataka. Very Hoysala, and therefore the definition of excellence, the pride of Indian sculpture. I have seen some of it in Somanathapura and Hosa-holelu in district Mandya. This awesome sculpting cannot just be repeated any longer down history.

 

We have some snatches of the delicate Hoysala idiom in the Great Temple of Srirangam, Tamil Nadu, but the common flint dressing does limit the virtuosities available only in granite and other such fine mediums. [The amrta-kalasa-Garuda worshipped in Srirangam Temple is among the finest specimens of native Hoysala carving.]

 

On the basis of my visits (and rather non-professional gleanings), I guess that a dissemination map of Hoysala art can be made to cover the other parts of the country too. The immediate neighbourhood of Orissa is the largest single beneficiary of the Hoysala borrowals, connecting Mandu (Madhya Pradesh ?), Mehsana in Gujarat, Mount Abu in Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, ending with Pithoragarh on the Indo-Tibetan border.

 

The other Veera Narayana shrine is at Gadag, east of Dharwar, which happened to be the final instalment of the 'pancha-narayana-pratishtha', erecting and dedication of the five Narayana shrines, in the time of that precious Hoysala ruler Bitti-deva / Vishnu-vardhana, under the supervision of Sri Ramanuja's nephew, Sri Mudali-aandaan / Daasarathi. The Gadag shrine was where the great poet Kumara-Vyasa composed his Mahabharata in Kannada.

 

Many thanks, yet again !

 

Tirumanjanam Sundara Rajan

(SRIRANGAM)--- On Wed, 9/16/09, makaram sampathkumar <makarams wrote:

makaram sampathkumar <makarams[sri ramanuja] Photos: Veera Narayana Temple"harish" <higuyz >Wednesday, September 16, 2009, 8:30 PM

 

 

Sri:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photos: Veera Narayana Temple

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Veera Narayana temple is located in Belavadi (Kannada: ಬೆಳವಾಡಿ), also known as Ekachakranagara, a village in Chikmagalur district of Karnataka.This ornate trikuta (three toweres) temple was built in 1200 CE by Hoysala Veera Ballala II. The material used is Chloritic schist. Each of the shrines has a complete superstructure (tower on top of shrine) and is one of the largest examples of Hoysala architecture. While the famous temples at Belur and Halebidu are known for their intricate sculptures, this temple is known for its architecture. The plan of this temple is unique in that two of the shrines face each other on either side of a wide and spacious open mantapa (hall) containing 37 bays. There is also an older shrine containing a closed mantapa with 13 bays and a closed mantapa with 9 bays at the end of which is a

central shrine. This third shrine is an older construction and exhibits a perfect Hoysala architectural idiom containing all the basic elements of Hoysala temple

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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